The Call

A leading retailer sought to revamp its convenience store format to better serve the evolving needs of its core customer segment—busy, suburban shoppers seeking quick, high-quality food and grocery solutions. The existing store design underperformed on meal and grocery fill-in missions, and the client needed to understand how store renovations could impact customer experience (CX), trip missions, and return intent.

Catapult Insights was selected due to our history of award-winning CX work and decades-long experience in human-centered design.

Our Response

We designed a 2-phased qualitative approach to inform and test adjustments to store design anchored in empathy and behavioral insight:

Pre-Reno Phase

  • Sets of suburban shoppers were recruited into online diary missions to understand trip mission mindsets and goals.

  • Shoppers were sent on a trip mission to our client’s store, and their experiences were documented in video, image, and open-end reflections on product assortment, layout, signage, and service touchpoints.

  • Next, in-store shop-alongs led by Catapult Insights moderators further brought insights to life as our client stakeholders observed shopper experiences in real-time.

  • We documented joys and challenges associated with key trip missions, guiding our client’s efforts in redesigning the space and CX.

Post-Reno Phase

  • Several months later, we re-engaged the same participants for a return experience to the same store, which had been renovated based on our findings.

  • Shoppers again documented their experiences and shared ratings on the same key performance measures to give us pre/post comparisons.

  • Next, in-store shop-alongs took us deeper into shopper CX in the new environment, allowing us to examine all aspects of the store and dissect deeper-rooted System 2 thoughts and conclusions.

The Celebration

Following our research, we facilitated internal working sessions with the client to align on insights and co-develop action plans. Findings showed that the renovations fueled by our work delivered measurable improvements in several key areas:

  • CX Impact: Shoppers reported enhanced clarity in store layout, improved product adjacencies, and more intuitive signage. The new design better supported errand stacking and mission-based shopping.

  • Behavioral Shifts: Shoppers indicated increased likelihood to return across trip missions. They also noted a stronger emotional connection to the store’s “look and feel” and associate interactions.

  • Strategic Enablement: Our insights informed refinements to store operations, merchandising, and future renovation rollouts. The client team used the findings to prioritize CX investments and track post-launch KPIs.

Our insights didn’t just validate the renovation—they shaped a roadmap for future investments in customer experience and store innovation.